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Steve Jobs: 'No Plans' to Discontinue iPod Classic

Not that I'd want this, BUT why doesn't Apple make the iPod Classic a multi-touch device? The Mac proves that you don't need to have flash memory in order for multi-touch to work. Is the HDD in the Classic too slow or unresponsive to work with iOS? The could call it the iPod Touch Classic or something. Then you could have the best of both worlds, large capacity and a touch screen. If they did that, though, there's no way I'd buy an iPod Touch (not that I have a desire for one as I've go the iPhone4).
 
An email from Steve Jobs (edit: last September) isn't exactly recent...

That said, I do think it's possible that Apple might re-invent the classic. If they want cloud portability with some data stored on MobileMe, all on the "personal cloud" via back-to-my-mac, some on my iPhone etc - then a really large portable device might be very popular.

ie: For someone who regularly uses large data files and programs, and moves between machines on different networks - being able to place an iPod Classic (plus bluetooth & NFC?) next to any random Mac and have full access to all your programs and files WITHOUT needing an Internet connection could be really useful.
 
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October 23rd, 2011 is the iPod's 10th birthday. I bet they will release a version this fall to commemorate it, if not a special edition of some kind. Maybe they'll let Jony do what he did with the 20th anniversary macintosh and make an $8,000 iPod with an OLED display and graphine processor just because they can.
 
iPod Classic 7G
- Retina display for stunning clickwheel-game-visuals
- Airplay
- 220 GB
- Thunderbolt to fill up that 220 GB in 2 sec
- bluetooth to stream music through your ipad.
- 4mm thin
- same 36 hour battery

Who's with me :D:apple:
 
My roommate has 126ish GB of music. It is really weird to use a click wheel after using an iPhone or touch.

It would be cool if they updated the software to included AirPlay and bluetooth (same chip, so why not both).
 
GregA said:
I do think it's possible that Apple might re-invent the classic.
Click to expand...

A price drop and some minor update (such as wifi, bluetooth capabilities, ios capable) might happen. I think updating the classic's internal's and functionality might be feasible. But I doubt they will touch the physical appearance of it.

But re-inventing the classic would defeat the purpose of calling it 'classic'.

The Ipod Touch is their outlet for innovations now. Though, I wonder when the touch, would simple be called the iPod (drop the touch from the name).
 
Ahh iPod Classic

Like another poster said:

Airplay
220 GB
Thunderbolt (though that won't happen)

I love my iOS devices, but there's something nice about a tactile, clicking and scrolling player. Especially made out of metal. Yeah, it's dated, and it's sorta of clunky to navigate, but it "feels" real.
 
honestly I do not consider it worth much. No plans can change and SJ is marketing first. He is in it for the money.
As long as they can turn a good profit off of them they will keep selling them. For me the space of the classic is over kill for my needs.
Does Apple still have Hard drive mode on the classic where you can use it as a removable drive and save put files in.
 
Superb! I hope they keep it alive until flash chips gets cheaper and the storage increases. I use my old 5.5G to store my videos, leaving my iPod touch with the music.
 
mac1984user said:
Not that I'd want this, BUT why doesn't Apple make the iPod Classic a multi-touch device? The Mac proves that you don't need to have flash memory in order for multi-touch to work. Is the HDD in the Classic too slow or unresponsive to work with iOS? The could call it the iPod Touch Classic or something. Then you could have the best of both worlds, large capacity and a touch screen. If they did that, though, there's no way I'd buy an iPod Touch (not that I have a desire for one as I've go the iPhone4).
Click to expand...

Because multitouch sucks if you're trying to control your music while falling asleep in a dark room with the player under the covers, while driving, while running, or while dusting.
 
Woah. Here's something I haven't seen mentioned -

The 10th Anniversary iPod Touch: a 220gb iPod Touch. It's an iPod touch with the storage of an iPod Classic. Or rather, an iPod Classic with the interface of an iPod Touch.

Discuss.
 
Kill it

Hard drives are a dying technology. Rightfully so! Any non-computer with a HD should be killed! And in the next few years, HDs should go the way of the floppy.
 
Disk space aside, there's nothing wrong with the current iPod Classic. It doesnt need bluetooth, microphones, cameras, etc - the hint is in the name...CLASSIC.

Wany bluetooth? Get a iTouch. You arent going to be listening to your library of 50,000 song on the way to work I'm sure it wouldnt kill you to load 10,000 onto an iTouch for the car. :rolleyes:
 
devinci99 said:
A price drop and some minor update (such as wifi, bluetooth capabilities, ios capable) might happen. I think updating the classic's internal's and functionality might be feasible. But I doubt they will touch the physical appearance of it.

But re-inventing the classic would defeat the purpose of calling it 'classic'.

The Ipod Touch is their outlet for innovations now. Though, I wonder when the touch, would simple be called the iPod (drop the touch from the name).
Click to expand...

I was referring more to the benefit of having a large storage portable device, in conjunction with Apple's rumoured portable logins.

But yes if they make it look like an iPod Touch, then it wouldn't really be an iPod classic. I'm not sure how they would add iOS though without changing the look, unless iOS was purely for the background features. Or perhaps a click wheel AND touch screen would still be a "classic".
 
Mattsasa said:
Do people seriously have that many songs?!!! seriously?!!!

220gb = 50,000 songs?!!!!! That is totally not necessary.

Apple discontinue that dinosaur! It makes you look bad to just have it on your website.
Click to expand...

Not just songs. Could be used with a media dock for movies and TV shows too. And don't say Apple TV2. I mean away from your home.
 
The classic is great. I got my iphone and was excited about having the ipod and phone combined. But I've gotten to the point where I miss the larger hard drive with more songs. I don't like having to decide which music I can squeeze onto the device. So I've started carrying the ipod around and using the phone for video and calls.

I don't think the classic will die, nor will conventional hard drives in laptops, until you can buy 500GB flash drives for $100. If the functionality of the hard drive suits your needs then you are simply paying more for less. If you are doing tasks that benefit from the access speed of a flash drive compared to a hard drive then of course that will outweigh the capacity issue.

Viva la roue de clic!
 
Apple is totally a lone player in this market of HDD-based high capacity MP3 player. The only thing prohibiting me from nabbing one of these is the highly scratchable chrome back. If Apple goes with full unibody aluminum enclosure, I'll nab one for sure.

It would be interesting how long would Apple keep this before updating it. The iPod classic already missed one cycle of update. Maybe Apple is waiting for SSD to drop in price? An SSD based Classic would be awesome (in addition to the unibody aluminum casing).
 
The suggestion that they will kill a product that has a great niche is kinda silly. My classic still gets plenty of use. A music player doesn't need a touchscreen. though I could see them doing that, changing the form factor a bit. One of the things that kept me from buying a touch when they came out was the limited storage capacity. What I see them doing is thinning the classic down, keeping the scroll wheel, using flash storage and adding airplay functionality. Big hds on portable players are nice but at some level you have to admit, there are very few people who legitimately "own" that much music. And Apple who should remain neural and just make the devices does like to act as ethical gatekeeper. As things shift to cloud storage, first will come non linear access to media, and then slowly but surely accountability and a polite but insistent offer to purchase the rights to all that music you seem to have that you don't have a receipt for from Apple.

mark it.
 
I had made a point that it seemed like they changed the promo pics on the website page last year with album covers from albums released that year

is it normal for Apple to go and do that?
change promo pics of products mid/end cycle?

seemed odd
 
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